Need opinion

[Speedbird_777]

Hi all

great site lots of help, spent 2 hours reading everything I could, from s939 vs s754, to AMD vs INTEL, excellent stuff

so after reading alot about how great Dell is...I decided to forget the 4700 desktop and build my own

here are my questions

P4 Prescott 3.0/800/1mb vs Athlon64 3000+ s939? which one would you go for?

motherboard..GA-K8NXP-SLI is this overkill? anything a little more middle class?

Windows XP Home or Pro? please note I do not network or do wireless stuff

as for cases and PSU god help me I am lost....I want to buy something quality but not flatten my wallet

Ok so I want to do some games and the usual boring internet/digitalcam stuff

I am looking at Geforce 6600GT graphics in PCIe
160gb SATA drive
a DVD/RW ---> looking at NEC OEM, as for software I want to use "DVD Clone" so I don't need the retail software

something that is going to run me a full 1000$ canadian..which runs what 700-800 US nowadays just for the PC (cpu,drive,case,fan,psu etc..)

here is another what about LCD...I got a Samsung 712N sitting on the table...I got it for almost nothing...what would you recommend keep it or being it back for better?

and last one, would hooking up the DVI to a HDTV set like a 42" Sony Grand Wega give good results with PC games? hence I could settle for 17'' LCD

Guys thanks a million for the help

[Speedbird_777]

ok found this mbo looks good and functional GA K8N F9...doesn't have the SLI but I don't need that function

[Deagle]

Between the Prescott or Athlon64, I would pick AMD. Maybe it's because I always prefer AMD over Intel.;) Seriously though, Athlon64 is prefer by gamers over the Prescott. Also the new 90nm S939 require very little voltage to run(1.4V) thus making a very cool system over the Prescott which used the same process but it's quite toasty.
Looking to do a little gaming eh? Well you've pick a great card, the 6600GT is the best bang for your bucks right now. Just google for a review against former ATI champ 9800Pro and you will see what I'm talking about.:D
If I were you I'd keep that LCD you got there. 17" LCD with 12ms response is great for gaming IMO. Sorry I don't know much about mobos so can't help you there. :rolleyes:

[Speedbird_777]

thanks a million

[Speedbird_777]

ok narrowed it down to 3 Mobo's

the Asus Mobo (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=376&l1=3&l2=15&l3=0)

or the Gigabyte mobo (http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-K8NF-9.htm)


and this third one which is 50$ more than I'd like to spend....you guys think it's overkill full of features or Must have overkill Gigabyte mobo (http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-K8NXP-9.htm) this last one has DPS and SATA2....do I really need this?

[saphalline]

I'd pick the cheaper Gigabyte mobo myself. The Asus mobo is good, and the onboard wireless "g" is certainly cool, but only 2 SATA ports?? What were they thinking? Just FYI for anyone out there, new mobo's these days should have at least 4 SATA ports! A wireless card can always be added, but SATA ports are difficult to add (PCI add-in cards for SATA are a waste of money!). You'll appreciate the extra SATA ports of the Gigabyte mobo as more devices go over to SATA. Future DVD burners will be SATA (they already have a few) and since each SATA port only handles one drive, well... you can see how they can be eaten up really quickly!

The more expensive Gigabyte mobo also has some nice extra features (like the phenomenal 8 SATA ports!) but at $50 more, you'd be better off buying an NForce4 SLI mobo. The SATA2 ports are an early-adopter thing and probably not the best investment right now. In 6 months SATA2 will be more mature, and more likely to work. ;) The built-in DPS is nice, but only really necessary for serious overclocking. If you really want good voltage control for your system, buy a good PSU and plug it into a UPS. The UPS alone will level off any voltage irregularities and give you a lot more black/brown-out protection than something built into your mobo!